Description
July 21 – Sep 8 (Fridays 6pm Pacific / 9pm Eastern)
This intensive eight-week live bootcamp meets weekly through September 8. You’ll go from a blank page to the first draft of a complete feature screenplay. You’ll attend a three-hour class session each week, in which we’ll walk through the entire process of conceiving, outlining, and writing a 80-120 page script. Conor will make plenty of time to take questions from students, as well as to review your work and offer feedback. This is an intensive crash-course for all skill levels, intended to keep students motivated and on track as they make their story come to life.
About the Instructor:
Conor Kyle has written for Shudder’s Creepshow (2019) and placed twice in the Nicholl Fellowship with his scripts “Peter and the Wolves” (quarterfinals, also Launchpad top 10) and The Tube (semifinals). His screenplays have also been featured on special sections of the annual Hit List, Young & Hungry List, Spec Book, and on Tracking Board’s “Best Writers of the Year” booklet. He writes everything from stage musicals to Westerns to horror movies. Watch Conor’s previous classes on Twitter, YouTube and Twitch, and the Script Camp Video Library
The 8-Week Script Bootcamp course includes:
Week 1: Why this story? Premise & Sketchbook (Jul 21)
Now that you’ve narrowed down your high-concept idea, we will ask the simple questions: why this story? Why now? What is both timely and universal in your idea? We will begin to chisel away at the central dramatic question of your script, and design a plan to explore this theme from all angles. You’ll refine and polish your story’s premise, and begin the process of outlining.
Week 2: Outlining I – Story Beats (Jul 28)
Now that you’ve selected your feature idea, we’ll look at the key building blocks of your story. Chiefly: how to structure and place key scenes, and begin to establish connective tissue between them.
Week 3: Outlining II – Scene Cards (Aug 4)
Time to organize your ideas into a much more detailed outline. These “scene cards” will each feature a key moment of your story, and you’ll organize your brainstormed sketches into a cohesive, page-by-page plan for your upcoming feature.
Week 4: Beginnings (Aug 11)
It’s time to get going on your feature! This class will feature a both a FAQ / troubleshooting session (where we address and fill holes in your outlines before you begin) and a lecture on first acts: everything from opening image to the act break. From this class on, you’ll have to write a few pages a day to keep up with the benchmarks and get optimal feedback on your script.
Week 5: Transitions (Aug 18)
You’ve finished the first 20-30 pages of your script, so this class focuses on your first act break. How do we diagnose whether we’ve done everything we need to do in act one? We’ll heavily emphasize a propulsive boost into the “fun and games” of your script’s second act, balancing B-stories, and more.
Week 6: Second Act (Aug 25)
This class follows us into the deep dark woods of your script: the second act. We’ll go over the creation of sequences and setpieces, and review how to find the fun in your premise and mine its full potential.
Week 7: Escalation (Sep 1)
Many newer writers begin to falter or repeat themselves in this section of a script, so we’ll focus on keeping up the energy and narrative push, as well as beginning to answer questions and pay off setups from earlier in the script. Danger and tension must ramp up significantly in this section, and we’ll make sure our scripts are doing just that.
Week 8: Endings (Sep 8)
In our eighth and final week, we will work through the difficult final act of your script. How do we conclude subplots? How can we leave the reader feeling satisfied with the ideal “unexpected yet inevitable” conclusion? More importantly, by the end of week 8 you will have completed the first draft of your feature! (Or your rewrite project)
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